New building at Verdun Hospital will add 36 beds as early as next year

The construction of a new building at the Verdun Hospital will add 36 new beds as early as next year.

Set to be completed in early 2021, the $32-million project will allow the hospital to prepare for a possible second wave of COVID-19.

The new building will consist of two floors. The first floor will be dedicated to the hematology-oncology department, and the second floor will have 36 individual rooms, all with their own washrooms.

READ MORE: Family criticizes Verdun long-term care facility over measures to contain COVID-19 outbreak

Sonia Bélanger, head of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, said in a press conference on Monday that when COVID-19 first hit the hospital, it had to reorganize in order to reduce the number of rooms with double or multiple beds.

The reorganization left the hospital with a reduction of 84 beds. They went from 244 to about 160.

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The government says moving the department to a new building will free up beds in the hospital. It adds that it will also help reduce the occupancy rate of emergency stretchers.

READ MORE: Montreal families worried about loved ones at Verdun General Hospital following outbreak

Patients’ rights advocate Paul Brunet said that though the new building is a good idea, he thinks government officials should consider reserving them for COVID patients.

“It would have been interesting, these temporary structures being built for COVID and excluding any patients, any personnel so you don’t have the mixture that provokes so many problems, contamination and even deaths,” said Brunet.

In April, the West Island health authority announced that construction of modular buildings had begun at both St. Mary’s and the Lakeshore hospitals.

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The purpose of the buildings is to increase the number of beds at both institutions, as the province continues to deal with the pandemic.

Quebec’s health minister says the construction of these modular buildings is needed in anticipation of the next wave.

“We need to have access to modular facilities that take months to build as opposed to years for the full infrastructure,” said Christian Dube. “One of the things that will solve is that we’ll have single rooms, which will be a key element in the second wave.”

The Verdun hospital is currently undergoing a planned renovation that is expected to take another three years.